


Take Me to Church But Don't Leave Me There Alone

by BatchSan



Category: Take Me to Church - Hozier (Music Video)
Genre: Angst, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slash, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 07:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4091680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatchSan/pseuds/BatchSan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jace worries he and Arkin will be targeted for their love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Me to Church But Don't Leave Me There Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Incomplete](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4072381) by [BatchSan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatchSan/pseuds/BatchSan). 



> This is a standalone but can totally be read as the sequel to [Incomplete](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4072381). 
> 
> I promised a second story and here it is! Think of it as a bonus Treat!
> 
> Also, a small warning for a two or three uses of the word 'fag'.

Jace exhaled slowly, looking up at the ceiling and trying to unjumble his thoughts. Things between him and Arkin had escalated quickly. Their relationship had gone from friendship to lovers in less time than it takes most people to realize what true love feels like. Because of this,they had overlooked the possible backlash of anyone seeing them being more than friendly with each other. 

There had been a minor incident the day before where three teenage boys had come across their usual hangout spot beside the river. They'd been kissing moments earlier but had been smoking when the boys found them. Arkin didn't see the harm but he'd been gone from this town a long time. People here didn't think highly of people like them. 

A knock at his bedroom door broke him from his thoughts. Good, he needed the distraction. Jace's father entered, nodding a greeting at his son.

"You've looked troubled for a few days now. Everything all right?" His father asked. 

Jace chewed on his lip. He hadn't told his father about the relationship between him and Arkin. He was afraid of what he'd say or do, although his father had always been a good-natured sort. 

"Just a bit worried, I suppose," Jace admitted. 

His father was quiet. "Is it about Arkin?"

"A bit, yeah."

"Arkin's a good guy. A bit sad, lost even, but nothing some soul searching won't fix." 

Jace fidgeted, worried his dad was going to throw some preachy bible stuff at him. Not that he did it often, only when he felt the situation needed it 

"Son, if this has anything to do with the new dynamic of your relationship with Arkin, I want you to know I support you.*

Jace's eyes widen. 

"I'm old, not blind. He moves away for more than half of your life and you become this quiet kid that never draws attention to himself. The second you two reunite, you can't stop smiling all the time and lately, there's a pep to your step that was never there before." His father chuckled. "Either you two are screwing or you have a girlfriend you haven't told me about."

"You're not mad?"

The older man placed a hand on his son's shoulder, squeezing him affectionately. "You're back to being the same happy kid that went on treasure hunts and dug holes all around the damn barn. I thought I'd never see him again. I want you to be you and happy, always."

Jace got to his feet and hugged his father tightly. He hadn't thought he'd ever tell his father about him and Arkin, much less find full support. It eased his mind,but not his fear. 

There were others in this town nowhere near as supportive. 

Arkin enjoyed kissing Jace down by the river. Loved the way the other man blushes and got nervous but kissed him back. Lately Jace pushes him away nervously and he got it. So they sit there in silence, fingers threaded where they touched in the grass. 

This particular day, he noticed someone watching them from atop the dam. It was hard to make out the figure out but Arkin's almost positive the person is looking in their direction, unmoving.

"Time to head back to work," Jace announced, looking up from his phone 

"Pity," Arkin remarked. 

He barely resisted the urge to kiss Jace goodbye, instead opting to watch him go in silence. The figure is gone from atop of the dam when he checked back on it. 

It's not long after that Arkin began to notice the looks. Most were directed at Jace, the local and better known of the two. When they go to the park to play basketball, Arkin would catch a teen or three, sometimes men, quietly watching nearby. Someone had seen or suspected something between them, he thought. Now they were waiting for a slip-up, an acknowledgement. 

He doesn't get the obsession but knew they had to be careful. 

"You know..." Jace said one day. He's propped up on an elbow beside him in bed, naked beneath the blanket over them. "If something were to happen, one of us should hide the box."

It took Arkin a long moment to understand what box he meant - the chest. When he did, he frowned in confusion. "Why?"

"Those bastards might try to say we were collecting pictures of young boys and jacking off to them."

"What? That's dumb. It's just pictures of us as kids." Arkin said. 

"Doesn't matter. They'll argue it. People get so tied up in their ideals that they're willing to overlook the truth just to prove they were right. You watch the news, Arkin. Happens all the time."

Arkin passed his cigarette to Jace, exhaling a plume of smoke as he thought about it. He knew Jace was right. Didn't make it easier to handle. 

"Okay. That's a good idea, hiding the box," he said. 

He kissed Jace, partially to ease the uneasy knot forming in his own chest. 

It's not too long after that things go to shit. 

Arkin's at the hardware store early one morning. He had scored a job doing construction a little while back. His boss had given him a list and money the day before for stuff to get for their current job site. It was a simple task but Arkin had never been a morning person so he was staring at the list trying to remember how to read when the bell to the store chimed. It was followed by the eager whispers of the clerk and another young man. 

"Willy's making a move today on the fag," the young man said. 

"He got the guys with him?" The clerk asked. 

"'Course. They're gonna build a bonfire and plan to barbeque his ass too."

"Wish I could see it but the boss is still pissed about me missing work last week to hang with Sharon," the clerk said. 

Something told Arkin they were speaking about Jace and if so he had to get to him before this Willy guy did. A part of him wanted to shove a fist down both of these asshole throats first but he suppressed it. He did make sure to note their faces as he calmly walked out of the store, his boss's list crumbled up in his hand. 

As soon as he was out of earshot of the store, he ran. His head was a cacophony of thoughts as he went to his apartment nearby first. He was going to take Jace and run, that was the only coherent thought in the cacophony. Maybe they should have done it sooner but there was no way Jace would've abandoned his father. He shouldn't have had to but now they had no choice.  
.  
In his apartment, Arkin threw together a small knapsack of things. He didn't even really know what he was grabbing before he bolted from the apartment with his bike in tow. He had sold his car not too long after moving into town to help feed himself and pay his rent until he got a job. He regretted doing it now but Jace had a car they could use at least. 

His heart was racing as he pedalled through every back road and shortcut he could think of to get to Jace's house. A sick feeling was heavy in his stomach, bile ticking the back of his throat as he looked about to make sure no one was around. Every shadow looked like a threatening figure and Arkin's legs could only move faster to beat them to Jace. 

His heart sank as soon as he arrived. The front door was knocked in and a window was broken. He yelled for Jace inside, racing up to his bedroom to find it empty. The shelf where the chest sat was empty and oh fuck, he thought, everything was so wrong. 

Downstairs he found Jace's father putting out a small fire in the living room, blood on his face. He was furious and scared but his voice was firm when he told Arkin to find Jace. Nodding dumbly, Arkin went to the stable, hoping to find his boyfriend hiding there, safe. It was empty and Arkin's heart was about to explode with fear. 

He thought of the treasure map inside the chest, the one they had memorized just in case they needed to hide the chest. Racing to where it should be buried, Arkin only found an abandoned shovel and the ground dug up. The chest wasn't there. He wanted to sink to his knees and cry but he caught sight of drag marks in the mud nearby. Following them, Arkin entered the woods on the edge of the property where he could hear voices before he could smell the heat of fire burning in a clearing up ahead. 

Arkin burst into the edge of the clearing to see that he was too late. Jace was laying on the ground as several men kicked him. One of them he recognized because he'd spied on them several times while they played basketball at the park or while they walked about town. It had to be Willy, he realized. 

This, he realized, was a hopeless situation. If he ran for help, they could kill Jace. If he stayed and confronted the group, he'd be no better off than Jace. 

He ducked behind some bushes and dialed the police, giving them a quick summary of what was happening before stuffing the phone in his pocket and grabbing a large tree branch from the ground. Arkin wasn't going to let Jace die because some idiots were afraid of the fact they loved each other. 

"Hey!" Arkin cried. 

A shiver went up Arkin's spine as several heads snapped to look in his direction. No one moved, except Jace, whom turned his head slowly toward Arkin's voice. 

"Let him go."

The one he thought was Willy stepped forward. He sneered at Arkin. 

"You're the other fag," he said. 

"Yeah, and what? What's it to you or your friends?"

"It's disgusting, that's what. I'm doing God's work by getting rid of your kind."

"This isn't God's work," Arkin scoffed. "This is the work of the insecure. Guess what? We don't want to recruit you or anyone. That's not even how it works you fuckhead."

Willy tensed, nostrils flaring. 

"You're breaking the laws set forth by God. Get him boys!"

The first one that got near him ate a faceful of tree branch. He was going down to the ground in pain when a second guy caught the branch with his ribs, the sound of his breathing heavy as he stumbled back. After that, Arkin ran back the way he'd come. He wasn't a good enough fighter to keep up the tough facade so he ran even though his legs were on fire from all his prior running. 

He managed to make it back to the abandoned shovel, slamming it into the legs of a third guy that had been dogging his heels. The guy's momentum kept him from avoiding the attack and he went down with a scream of pain. Guys four and five kept a safe distance until Willy pushed past them. 

"You're going to die here," Willy said. "There's no point in fighting so why not make things easy for yourself?"

"Go fuck yourself," Arkin said. Again he took off running but he circled back toward the bonfire thinking of Jace. 

Jace was lying where he'd last seen him and for the first time, Arkin noticed their chest in the fire but injured man was far more important at the moment. There was a nasty gash on Jace's cheek and his lip was split. He didn't try to move too much so Arkin suspended bruised or broken ribs based on how he'd seen the group kicking him. Jace opened his eyes at the sound of Arkin's footsteps.

"J, are you okay?"

"Pretty sure that's the dumbest fucking question you've ever asked me." Jace's voice was weak and forced but he managed a small smile. 

Arkin smirked for a second before Willy and his goons exploded into the clearing. Standing defensively over Jace, Arkin kept the shovel held up. This was going to have to be the final showdown because he was too tired to keep running, plus he wasn't going to leave Jace alone again .

"You can hurt us all you want," Arkin said, "but you can't change us. You know why? Because there's nothing to change. We are just people and all your hate can't change that."

Willy glared hard at him, staring down Arkin so hard that he began to think Willy could see into his soul. One of the teens he had hit earlier circled around and tried to grab Arkin from behind but Arkin caught him in the mouth with the handle of the shovel drawing a mouthful of blood. One of the others used the distraction to grab the shovel while Arkin moved it forward. He got a lucky grip and wrestled it from Arkin's hands allowing the other goon to come at Arkin. 

Taking a fist to his jaw, Arkin lashed out despite seeing stars and hit his attacker in the chest above his heart. He hiccupped a pained gasp before launching at Arkin. Just before he could knock him to the ground or into the fire, a shot rung out across the clearing. 

It was Willy who cried out, staggering before falling hard on his ass. His jeans beneath his knee bloomed wet with blood. Arkin looked around to find Jace's father standing a few yards away, a shotgun in his hands. 

"Next person that moves won't be so lucky," he said. 

Tears came to Arkin's eyes as relief flooded him. In the distance, he could hear sirens.


End file.
